12/1-3/15 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way, I stopped in and beat Uncle Charles in a game of checkers. He put up a good fight, though. The roads were clear but it was a little foggy and rainy up to the pass. On the other side of the pass there was a lot of new snow but the roads had been cleared pretty well.

I plowed through about 6 inches of snow on the ground in 4wd in order to get parked but I made it OK. Just as I had gotten my boots on and was getting out of the truck, Dave and Nancy Bartholomew and two dogs greeted me and invited Ellen and me to a party in their log home. Unfortunately, it is on a Sunday afternoon which makes it hard for us to make it as long as Ellen works the next day.

While we were talking, Ernie came up the driveway, but before I could get a biscuit for him, he saw the other dogs and turned around and went back home. Too bad. Poor old guy,

After bringing my gear up, I raised the flag, started a fire in the wood stove, had my lunch, and went out to work. It was 20° outside. I planed two tread blanks, treated them with Board Defense, and brought them inside the cabin to dry out. Those were the last two blanks I will need to complete the front staircase, so with the third blank already prepared, I have moved ahead of schedule.

On Wednesday it was again 20° outside and about an inch of new snow had fallen overnight. After breakfast, I removed another temporary plank step, mounted and aligned one of the prepared tread blanks, scribed it, dismounted it and dismantled the supporting structure, and set the blank up on sawhorses ready to be notched. Then I went in for lunch and a nap.

When I got up and went back out, I cut the notches and tried the fit. It wasn’t bad but I used Rasputin and the Bulldog to cut away wood to improve the fit. I quit for the day pretty well exhausted with the tread almost fitting correctly.

On Thursday morning it was 24° and snowing. I measured 8 inches of snow on the ground. It snowed pretty hard all morning so I wanted to leave as early as possible. I got the tread to fit correctly, drilled the holes, stained the tread and installed the lag screws and quit work at 11:00. I had my lunch and left for home at 12:20. I needed to leave the 4wd engaged all the way to Highway 2 but except for slow going, I made it home with no problems.